About Me

Buford C. Terrell
Controlled substances laws and their consequences have been the center of my professional life for over fifteen years. I host a public interest television program in Houston, “Drugs, Crime, and Politics” , produced by the Drug Policy forum of Texas, and have done so for most of its ten-year history. Before my retirement, I taught a seminar, “Controlled Substances Law” for many years at South Texas College of Law.
In this blog I intend to explore the features and consequences of those laws, especially the unintended consequences, and look at the need for, and possibility of, changing them. Don’t expect a lot of breaking news or current events, although there will be some. My approach will be more historical and theoretical. I hope to get a lot of criticism – good, bad, and otherwise – and to start some good, heated discussions.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

School Daze

The
new school year is beginning across the country.At the risk of sounding like a Drug Warrior,
I have to ask: what message will we be sending to the kids?

·It’s OK for an administrator to watch a teen
age girl pee so he can see what she did away from school last weekend.

·Sit quietly while armed thugs with dogs sniff
around your locker and car.

·Get wasted on beer this weekend because if
you smoke a joint, you’ll be busted.

·It doesn’t matter if you’re talented, learned
all the skills, practiced hard, and made the all-state team last year.If your pee is dirty, you’re off the team and
can kiss a scholarship goodbye.

·You’re president of the Debate Team and state
champion, but you’re not allowed to debate the principal or the school board
about drug policy.

·The school can’t afford a modern chem lab,
and you’re sitting in a desk left over from the 1950s, but it can spend
thousands for drug tests.

·Even though studies show drug tests don’t
work we have to look like we’re doing something.

Can’t we send better messages to our
kids? Messages like these:

·Get the facts.Slogans and fairy tales are no substitutes.

·Do your own research.Don’t accept anyone’s unsupported word.

·You learned your most important lesson when
you were two: always ask why.

·“Because I said so” is not an answer.

·“No” is not an answer; it’s just an
invitation to negotiate.

·If they try to scare you it’s because they
know they can’t convince you.

·Study the Constitution.It teaches a lot of lessons like…

·You have a right to privacy that no one can
invade.

·The government (including the school) cannot
search you, your home, or your belongings (including your urine) without a
warrant based on probable cause.

·You can’t be required to testify against
yourself.

·You have the right to free speech, including asking
the school why it is searching your car or your pee without probable cause.

(Come
to think about it, these are pretty important messages to send to adults too.)

The
message we send to the kids determines the kind of adults they become.If you want them to become mindless sheep,
covering at the growl of a herd dog, tell them to sit still and do what they
are told.If you want a crowd of
1984-automotons shouting memorized responses to Big Brother’s slogans, tell
them to “Just say ‘No!’”.But if you
want a society of independent adults who think for themselves, tell them to
also demand proofs based on real evidence.Tell them to think for themselves.

We
must teach the young to stand up for their rights, or even, in the words of the
Beastie Boys: